I was less eager to write the obituary for the 2009 White Sox than Stormin Norman was when he gleefully leapt off the Cubs bandwagon earlier this month.  There was nothing cathartic for me in coming to grips with the Sox demise. Stormin Norman’s at least freed his mind from caring for a team that never gave him any reason to care for them all season long. I wish my team was like the really hot girlfriend whom I spent way too much money on, only to realize she wasn’t worth all of the crazy temper tantrums taken out on Gatorade machines, accusing me of being racist, and standing me up on dates in Denver because she pulled some back muscles during batting practice, I mean washing her hair. That way when I realized it was time to dump her ass, I could at least feel great leaving her a strongly worded voicemail that our relationship was over and that “No, she could not get me to buy her another corner outfielder before I left.” But no, that feeling is saved only for the Northsiders this year.

I really can’t be mad at the Sox for their performance this year, and I won’t spend six long months wishing they were dead.  I guess it’s partially due to the fact that less was expected of the Sox from the beginning of the year. Can you imagine that some prognosticator’s predicted the Sox to at best finish 3rd in their division?!?!  And while never truly deserving of a full-on “underdog” tag, the Sox were saddled with lower expectations due to age (both young and old), injury concerns and lack of established fourth or fifth starters. This helped my psyche throughout the year when even an above-average performance led to the brief delusion that maybe there was something more to this team. Maybe the Good Guys do Wear Black, maybe the Grinder Rules do still apply, or maybe These Kids Can Really Play.  They always seemed to just be one hot week or two away from really putting it all together.  Alas, even in the face of the Tigers’ self-destructing September, the Sox couldn’t muster the streak necessary to save their season or their teammates (see Jim Thome and Jose Contreras).

The oddsmakers in Vegas had the Sox hovering around 79 or 80 wins when they broke spring training. Right now, after that craptastic showing against the Twins last night, the Sox are sitting at 73-78.  Even if the Sox can’t muster an 8-3 finish, which is likely, there are some good things to be taken away from this season.

a) We got Jake Peavy. I heard a little rumor that he unanimously won some award in the NL a couple years back for being like the best pitcher or something noteworthy like that. Either way, the Sox may have paid a little too much for his services or lack thereof this season, but even if he had been healthy for 6 or 7 more starts, I don’t know if it would’ve made a difference. Better to ensure his long term health rather than trotting him out there with a bum leg.

b) Gordon Beckham struggled at the plate late in the season but still held up well against the grind of his first professional season. He also showed signs of improvement defensively at the hot corner.  I think he might have found the position for him permanently since his reflexes have improved markedly, but he still lacks the range to be a great major league shortstop. All in all, Gordon has 91 hits in 93 games, showed some power with 12 home runs and 45 RBI’s and most importantly proved that he can hang with the big boys.  Hmmm, who would I rather have at 3B: a young, healthy Gordon Beckham who started hitting from the start, or Joe Crede who shut it down again this season to have his 3rd major back surgery?  That’s a real tough one.

c) This season was probably the best thing that could have happened to Chris Getz. The guy outplayed Lillibridge and Nix from the start of the season, avoided all the glare and criticism that comes with being a rookie with Beckham getting much of the buzz, and quietly put up some solid numbers. A .269 average, 98 hits, 25 SB, and a .986 fielding percentage.

d) Along with these two rookies proving their worth, the Sox organization has allowed some of their remaining youngsters to move quickly through the farm system and get a taste of the big leagues. While I think we should stick with AJ Pierzynski for as long as possible (2nd best offensive catcher in the AL behind Mauer, which is saying something), it’s good to see Tyler Flowers getting some at-bats this late in the season. His swing looks awfully long, but I have to keep reminding myself he put up monster numbers in AA, and even wunderkind Matt Wieters but up some atrocious numbers in his first 25 or 30 at-bats in the majors.  Tyler has had only 7 or 8 at-bats sporadically at the end of games to work out the kinks, and should begin to put things together or at least identify what he needs to work on during the offseason. Daniel Hudson is another youngster who has barreled through the minor leagues, which isn’t exactly a cakewalk considering the overall records of the Sox farm teams this year. He’ll need to develop another pitch to be a solid starter but the Sox seem to have some kind of blueprint for the future.  (Don’t ask me if Rios is in those blueprints, I have no idea what his ceiling or floor is).

While I hate to compare them to the Cubs, it’s a fact of life that we have two pro teams in this fair city and it’s tough not to think of the other team. The Sox had their share of disappointments from their corner out-fielders this year (I’m looking at you Mr. Quentin and Mr. Dye of the .189 August and .135 September). If I were a Cubs fan I would be writing to the Ricketts family and Jim Hendry to demand that Sam Fuld and Jake Fox get a fair chance to fight for one of those corner spots next spring, rather than simply buying the next “can’t miss free agent” to fill the void.   The Sox appear to have weathered a transitional year of managing to play competitive baseball with some extremely exciting moments (Exhibit A: Buehrle’s perfect game) while introducing a solid group of youngsters who should have long careers with the organization. And while this might not be the year for any team from the AL Central to make much noise in the post-season, the Sox are in better shape next year. I can’t help but think that one of these years the Cubs wouldn’t benefit from taking the same approach.

Instead, the Cubs once again went for the all-or-nothing strategy, and wound up predictably with a whole lotta nothing. Each time I saw one of the youngsters trotted out there, there was no satisfaction that the kid could be getting his big break. Instead, I hoped he enjoyed his momentary spot in the sunshine before the veteran returned to the lineup or the Cubs signed the next batch of off-season free agents to try and win it “next year”.

Either way, I’m not upset with the Sox this year. They made some pretty bold moves, shook some things up, weren’t complacent, and genuinely kept me interested even when they were trotting out Carlos Torres to start games. The future looks bright, if not spectacular and I can’t wait to see what Kenny has up his sleeve during the offseason.

You have to give credit to Major League Baseball for holding onto and honoring its history more than any other professional sports league. With the NFL continuing to sweep the health problems of its former players under the rug, the NBA forcing its former stars to judge Dunk Contests or actually participate in that crazy shootout contest in order to get any face time (I don’t need to ever see Bill Laimbeer in shorts again) and the NHL leaving it up to the individual franchises to honor their players (Kudos to the Hawks for stepping up in this respect), the MLB bridges the present with the past better than them all.

The All-Star game is one of those opportunities where we can reminisce about true rivalries among the two Circuits and the kind of men who played the game back in the day. The men who back then thought nothing of giving up the prime years of their careers to serve their country, only to return and pick up their bats and gloves and provide the American public with the brand of baseball that cemented the sport as our national pastime. Each year we’re reintroduced to the heroes of yesteryear, offering us another chance to appreciate how great some of these names truly are, especially in comparison to the weak-willed individuals that are constantly trotted out from the Mitchell Report and other sources.  The Cardinals trotted out the Wizard of Oz, Bob Gibson, Bruce Sutter, Lou Brock, and Red Schoendienst. Then, as they did with Ted Williams a few years ago, they drove Stan Musial in from the outfield.

Musial had a career .331 batting average, 3630 hits and 475 home runs. A 24 time All-Star himself, Musial might be one of the most underrated baseball players in history. Hell, he only received 93% of the votes on his first ballot for the Hall of Fame.  Musial achieved all of this while also taking off the entire season after the Cardinals won the World Series to serve in the United States Navy in 1945.

I bring all of this up because after the player introductions, the tie-ins with the history of the local team, and ceremonial functions (anthem, fly-over, first pitch) the game goes downhill. If you factor in the Futures game and the Home Run Derby in the two preceding days, one could argue that the pre-game festivities are the peak of the All-Star Game.

Whoops!

To be honest the American League  dominance over the National League combined with free agency has drained the actual game of much of its excitement. And while the other major All-Star games benefit from the ability to relax their defensive efforts during their game and still produce an enjoyable product full of improvisation and creativity, baseball has no such option. If a player does take his eye off the game, he just looks sloppy, is labeled as a goat, and worse, leaves a pitcher out on the mound for longer than he needs. (Just ask Dan Uggla).

Baseball kool-aid drinkers will argue that the Home Run Derby is the answer to this need for excitement and offensive fireworks. I won’t write off the Home Run Derby entirely, until I hear it without Chris Berman. If it still makes me want to plunge hot forks into my ears then I will be forced to admit there is something structurally wrong with the event.

Compared to the NBA Dunk Contest, the Derby lacks the ability to break down the nuances of the dunk, the creativity involved, and whether you’ve seen anything like it before. Instead, you have bat hitting ball and then seeing where it landed. How exciting! The players are confined to the batters box so the only real variable is to see whether it hits something amusing in the newly designed ballpark housing the All Star Game.

I would support adopting a skills competition like the NHL’s event that would provide a greater demonstration of the players’ skills. There you would be able to get a better feel for the true athleticism of these players. I know, I know! What about the added exposure to injury?!?! Suck it up, I say. Your teams are struggling to fill ballparks, you should be doing everything you can to ensure the survival of the game.

Proposed Events (NHL Comparison)

Rounding the Bases (Skating around the rink) - Pure and simple display of prolonged speed. If the whole way is too far, why don’t you bring in the top 5 triples leaders in the league and have them run from home to third?

Stealing Second (Shootout) - Baserunners are the shooters, and the catchers are the goalies. The pitchers wouldn’t need to try to pick the runners off but we would force the baserunners to start with a foot on the base, to give the catchers a chance at throwing them out.

Fly ball to the outfield and throwing to home (Slap Shot) – What better way to see the strongest arms in the league than to have the likes of Vlad Guerrero (maybe  a few years ago in his prime), Ichiro,  Torii Hunter, or even a Shane Victorino, catching flyballs from their positions in the outfield and gunning lasers to the plate. Add a runner tagging and running towards home (he won’t have to slide injury-phobes) and we’ve got something compelling happening on every pop fly.  I would like the competitors to be picked for this from a poll of all the 3rd base coaches in each league responding to the question “Who do you fear or second guess the most?”

Pitching to Targets (Wrist Shots at the Plates, or the old Sweet Quarterback Club competition)

Recognizing the need to keep these guys from hurting themselves, we’d only ask the pitchers to take part in some target practice from 60’6″, with the targets getting progressively smaller in each successive round. No need to see who pitches hardest, since they likely wouldn’t throw as hard in a non-competitive setting.

Using the Futures Game Participants for more than one night

For many of these competitions that require extra players to participate to simulate the game settings, why not keep the guys from the Futures game there to compete in these events alongside the Major Leaguers? It would result in increased visibility and most of these guys have very raw tools like speed or a strong arm, but just haven’t been able to round out the other tools of their games.

As it stands the Cubs and Sox both had two players in the Futures game:

for the Cubs: Josh Vitters and Starlin Castro;

for the Sox: Dayan Viciedo (who had an RBI double to push the World Team to the final 7-5 score) and Catcher, Tyler Flowers.

Both organizations expect big things from Vitters and Flowers, high draft picks who have shown a lot of promise at the plate. Castro is an intriguing young shortstop that one scout in the Cubs organization believes could be a real All-Star someday. Viciedo has a similarly high ceiling, but now seems to have both Gordon Beckham and Alexei Ramirez blocking his quick ascension to the left side of the infield. While he might be asked to change into a Carlos Lee-type left fielder or a first baseman  he should help in recruiting Aroldis Chapman (he just signed with an agent this week) to the South Side.

Despite their performances in the Futures game, these players are relegated to relative anonymity for another 1 or 2 years before we see them called up to the Majors. Wouldn’t an expanded All-Star performance give us a greater taste of what types of skills these young guys have? While the NBA and NFL benefit from extremely public collegiate sports leading to their drafts, the MLB suffers from almost non-existent coverage of collegiate and minor league players. This would be a perfect opportunity to show off more of their young talented players in a fun, exciting atmosphere.

Just some thoughts, let me know what you think on other competitions you’d like to see!